St. Paul daily globe., 1887-01-03


his ease. He was sitting waiting at table
which had pens and ink and papers on it;
there was no expectancy in his attitude; he
seemed little bored, indeed; he sat with
his back toward the door. one elbow on the
table, his hand propping his chin. He rose
when he heard me, and looked at me camly
enough as he shook hands.
miss Chrystal?" he said.
YES" said meekly.
He touched chair that stood beside his
at the table, and l sat down with feeling
OF obedience. His face was grave. his man.
ner. as Nell had said. severe; l wondered
how l could have thought him nervous; he
looked as though he had never blushed; he
seemed quite unaffected by the con-
sciousness that his pupil was girl. He
seated himself beside me and drew cor
rected exercise toward him.
This. l think, is your paper, Miss
Chrystal?"
Yes" said in small voice, 'I-think
so, Mr. Tudor"
He was turning the pages slowly and
grayely. l sat looking down at my hands
folded meekly on the table and did not see
his face.
Your first answer ISIS inadequate"
1.-The first part of Stubbs isis very diff
cult" l said, venturing to look up.
There was strange, quick little twinkle
for moment i'll his eye as he glanced at
me, but his lips did not smile.
In the next question:" he said slowly,
''you confuse-or seem to confuse-two
things the constitution and aSsiZe of Clar-
endon-a slip. perhaps?"
He was looking steadily and calmly at
me, waiting. For the first time in my life
/ a116 nd T
that was 10, and no longer schoolgirl.
| was overwhelmed with a sense of my
ignorance.
mo, it was not Slip" 1 said. "Con-
stitutional history is Quite-Quite new
me-"
80 had gathered from your paper" he
said quietly.
His very gravity and quietness seemed
like bitterest satire. He said he did not
grasp my theory here-did not follow my
argument there. And had no theory-I
could not follow my own argument. He
grew more grave and quiet and slow. The
lump in my throat grew larger every mo-
meut. If I had been brought up in a family of
girls l should have burst into tears before
him. sat still and looked at my brown
fingers clasping one another, and answered
briefly:
At last he pushed back his chair little
and gave me my paper folded.
"You will have to read very steadily,
Miss Chrystal."
'Y es," said, in a small voice.
s'For some months"
''Yes,'' said again.
''The rest of the class are far ah cad of
you"
'.Yes. yes-I know" said.
He seemed to have nothing more. whole
somely humiliating, to say to me, and I
understood that the interview might end
and l rose to go. He rose, too. imme.
diately. Most of our lecturers nodded at
us and sat still. Mr.. Tudor conceded
something to my girlhood; he stood when l
stood and remained standing as he contin-
ued to speak to me. He threw out crumb
of praise.
Your style is clear" he said. ''When
you deal with subjects within your grasp
when you do not get out of your depth
your style is clear decidedly. Not an alto
gether historical style. but lucid"
l felt that, on the whole. his blame had
been less humiliating than this his praise.
He held the door open for me and shook
hands gravely with quiet smile.
Good afternoon" he said.
u,
The girls had invaded my study and were
lazily stretched on my bed and window seat
and rug. waiting for me.
We'll" they said,
I sat down beside Claudia on the hearth
and tore my corrected paper into small
atoms and burnt them. II hate himr'
said. poking the fire vigorously and pushing
the smOuldering paper into the flames-.'I
hate him! He thinks me conceitedI He
thinks me horrid. lie tries to be satrical
because he thinks me puffed up. He laughs
at mel saw it in his eyes-more than
once-always-eve time I looked at him.
| Said-I said he blushed-I said he thought
Of me as a girl said he blushed because
spoke to him. And he despises me. And
he will never, never forget"
And there l forgot that belonged to
family OF boys where no one ever wept, and
burst into sudden tears; and Claudia, Nell
and Lottie fell to comforting me.
II.
AS the weeks went on I grew more and
more convinced that l hated and always
should hate Mr.. Tudor; that he thought me
young, ignorant, stupid, fippant, spoilt and
conce ted; that he deSpised my intellect, re-
membered my foolish speeches, and always
IL.
of twinkling when he looked at me and
looked away again; all the perplexing
questions seemed to fall to me, and his lips
twitched when spoke of gravel kind as
custom duty, and found Wolsey guilty un-
der the statute of purveyance. He seemed
to enjoy my blunders; the worst mistakes
of Claudia. Nell and Lottie never provoked
in him even temptation to smile.
Rut the had half hOur i'm INV wpaI- yuoS on
Saturday afternoons when | went alone to
him, and sat by his side while he spread
out that weeks history paper of mine be-
fore him and commented on its faults and
required an explanation of its antiquities,
and waited patiently with most courteous
attention for my answers. Now and then,
glancing up at him quickly, caught a
CLEAN of laughter deep down in his eyes.
Yet when he spoke his voice was slow and
grave and weighty.
1t was Saturday afternoon in the mid
die of the term. / sat beside him at the
table, listening meekly to his criticisms.
''You miss the point here, Miss Chrystal. -
Eyes. Mr.. Tudor
''And here you speak of impeachment as
though it were procedure by BILL"
''Yes, Mr.. Tudor"
THAT is a somewhat grave mistake"
l could not acQuieSce again. And the
monosyllabic yes was the only form of
answer that came to ME.
And here, Think. you were required to
discuss the constitutional importance of
these events?"
Yes, Mr.. Tudor"
''You have not done so, Miss Chrystal. -
''No-I am afraid am afraid not"
You mistook the question, possibly?"
He was looking gravely at me, waiting.
My spoken answer, like my written an
swer. was not very much to the point. l
spoke desperately